


Frappuchinos and Green Apple Gum

by soloproject



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shop, Future Fic, M/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-13
Updated: 2008-09-13
Packaged: 2017-12-04 20:34:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/714814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soloproject/pseuds/soloproject
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Jackal moves on with his life after tennis and doesn't know he carries them all but mostly, Bunta.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frappuchinos and Green Apple Gum

**Author's Note:**

> Since the series "ended", I've been toying with a future fic continuation on and off, mostly concentrating on Fudoumine and Kamio's/Kirihara's/Momoshiro's struggle as new team captains--and wasn't actually going to post anything! But some people asked very nicely, haha. Although Rikkai is featured in the future fic, this one is pushed much farther into the future, during Akaya's senior year in high school and everyone else's first year in college. This is probably very bad and with many syntax errors so sorry about that. This might be the first part?

Jackal Kuwahara has always been an outsider but it’s not his fault. His mother is Japanese, his father is Brazilian and that’s all he's ever known and loved. In his house, it is completely normal to have nori flakes and shichimi on the table but coffee instead of tea and cachaça instead of sake. His parents’ marriage has always been an uncomplicated, easy-going synthesis of the best things about both cultures. It sort of felt like that in his current job, tending the coffee bar at the Todai Starbucks.

Jackal liked working there because he loved coffee and he’s good at making it. Japanese people are not casual and open with one another the way Brazilians and Westerners are but they always warm up to him when he spoke to them in his smooth Japanese, responding with surprised tones and expressions when he handed them their coffee. They assigned him there without much of a struggle mostly because he talked to the foreigner students as easily as he did with the locals.

In the middle of his freshmen year of high school at Rikkaidai Fuzoku, Jackal’s father got a job that brought them back to Brazil. It had been a surprisingly easy transition for Jackal-- barring the time he’d heard the news, the time he had to break it to his friends, the four months of packing and enduring sympathetic glances and terse words exchanged with Seiichi/Genichirou/Renji.

It was ironic that after three years of playing together, it was only then he had finally mustered up enough nerve to call them by their first names.

It had initially hurt when they feigned happiness for him and even threw him a goodbye party. Yanagi had stoically pushed a black notebook with all their contact information in his hands and reminded him to keep in touch.

Jackal didn’t know what he was expecting anyway, that they would cling to his ankles and beg him to stay? The Japanese have a tradition of duty, not of sentimentality and longing. If there was any one lesson Jackal had learned growing up in Rikkai, that had to be it.

The truth was that Yukimura could build a tennis team from scratch anywhere. His eye for talent was unmatched and he had Sanada and Yanagi at his sides.

Kirihara was young and he'd have the time of his life being captain, throwing all his energy into being the best and terrorizing freshmen in the way they knew he would. Jackal wasn’t worried about Yagyuu and Niou. They had always had a strange acquaintanceship that would survive atypical situations of all kinds because it wasn’t typical at all.

He and Marui were not like that. Jackal and Marui had been, first and foremost, doubles partners. They lived and breathed the same space of a tennis court for a good part of three years. They were the winningest doubles team, surpassing even Yagyuu and Niou through sheer hard work and dumb luck, because they weren’t so involved in the drama of each others lives.

Niou and Marui were friends of a more traditional sense than Jackal and Marui were, in the way that they actually hung out and were classmates and stuck together. They had a lot in common, both possessed of a strictly logical mind and liked to tear their way through life in the form of games, betting money and food, dignity and time.

Jackal and Yagyuu were friends too. They studied together, exchanged notes, gave time to social action and student government and ran errands for teachers. They took turns keeping an eye on Kirihara and had a mutual understanding based on the uncomplicated quiet they had when they spent time together because when the last bell rang, they would be back to anchor their exuberant partners.

But still, Yagyuu and Niou had a spark that passed between them, deeper than Jackal could ever hope for with anyone and so he guessed he must have taken it for granted, not knowing how much he missed them until the plane took off for the long flight to Sao Paolo and all it's little stops.

On the plane, he sullenly recalled Kirihara’s complaining and the bloody way he freaked out. Getting berated by Sanada, talking to Yukimura on the phone, getting advice from Yanagi. The countless notes and books passed back and forth between him and Yagyuu. Sneaking alcohol with Niou "just to try it," and Marui.

And Marui.

Jackal felt a hand on his arm and looked up to see his mother smiling gently. It’s okay if you want to cry, meu amor, she said, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. His father was buried in a book, brushing up on his Portuguese. Jackal shook his head and dug out his iPod, putting his big headphones over his ears and listening to it until it died and not bothering to take it off until they landed.

The first couple months were awkward but in a strange way, Jackal blended in better than he ever had back home in Japan. Like all new kids, he had built up a protective armor but over time it melted away. His Portuguese got better and he laughed more and played more football.

It was almost as if his time in Rikkai hadn’t happened at all, especially when one by one they started losing touch. Kirihara first and then Niou, Marui and Sanada and Yukimura and Yagyuu, until finally it was only Yanagi who emailed him sparse reports of their lives:

 

_We’ve won another national in the High School Level. Akaya-kun’s also pulled off another national, all by himself. Seiichi is very proud. We all are. ___

.........................

_Are you still playing tennis?_

.........................

_Sanada broke his arm in a car accident. He’s fine and it wasn’t his fault. He’s very frustrated though and you know how he gets when he’s grumpy._

.........................

_We’re going to tennis camp in the summer. Some familiar faces there. Inui and Tezuka. Tachibana. Unlike the last time, we're all here, except for Kirihara and you, of course._

 

He never really knew how to reply.

Jackal recieved e-cards on his birthday and at Christmas. He replied dutifully despite feeling like he no longer knew them sometimes. He missed watching things unfold, even though Yanagi sent him links and pictures of their games. He hardly played in Brazil, although he occasionally hit balls against their garage door until the neighbors yelled at him to stop.

Jackal let his hair grow out.

Two and a half years went by fast and one day while Jackal was looking up colleges on his computer that he gets an unexpected email:

 

_So, after three years of tennis and winning, Sanada’s finally caved and is training to go pro. Kirihara’s going to be Captain again, possibly the greatest one Rikkai’s seen, even more so than Yukimura._

_Speaking of which, Yukimura’s health has started to decline again enough that the doctors have insisted he no longer play. Seiichi seems to be taking it in stride though; I think he knew his career would end in high school._

_I’m not going to Rikkai University. You?_

_Marui_

 

Inexplicably, Jackal found himself looking through the website of Todai and downloading applications. Over dinner that night with his parents, he brought it up.

+++

 

This is how Jackal finds himself back in Japan, studying at night and working at Starbucks. The culture shock hits him harder than he expects and although he knows the words, everything sounds alien. It was one straight slide from Brazil to there, taking the entrance exam online and getting accepted, flying back to Japan in a daze.

Finding an apartment, setting it up, moving in, settling down.

Enrolling in classes, going to the library, talking to professors, doing his homework.

Getting up early. Going to work. Mixing coffee, venti, grande, tall. Green tea frappuccino, caramel macchiato, endless lattes.

It takes up a lot of his time and in the back of his head, he wants to call his friends, say hi and talk but he always feels busy and he puts it off, telling himself he’ll do it later.

Three months go by without a hitch.

The Starbucks Jackal works at is near Tokyo University in Bunkyo-ku.

He doesn’t recognize anyone and it’s quite possible that no one will recognize him the way he looks now. Jackal feels too foreign, too awkward, and too tall but he works and goes to classes and continues to berate himself on why he never calls his friends to tell them he's back.

It’s only after he’s there for three months and studying for an economics exam that he gives up, calls himself a coward and picks up the phone to see if Yanagi is home.

He isn’t.

Jackal decides to make the trip to his old school. The minute he steps off the bus, he feels a wave of nostalgia and he has to tuck his hands into his pockets to keep them from touching things. He gets a lot of staring even though they let him in after he shows him his alumni card and navigates the halls with ease.

Jackal is not surprised when he steps onto the tennis court and feels pleased to see Kirihara there, tall and strapping, his jacket hanging around his shoulders like Yukimura.

Kirihara looks stronger and more grown up. There are lines around his eyes that suggest a great restraint and his curly hair still swirls around his head but is much tamer now. Jackal stands off to the side and watches him give advice to freshmen who look at Kirihara with familiar looks of adoration.

"Excuse me?" A freshman asks him. "Do you need something? Practices are closed."

"Just visiting. Your captain is an old friend." Jackal tells him. The freshman nods and then runs across the court to Kirihara who looks up, squints and then suddenly runs over and launches himself at Jackal.

"Bastard!" Kirihara says by way of greeting, laughing while his team stand around and look uncomfortable, as if they aren’t used to seeing Kirihara lose it. Jackal grins and ruffles Kirihara’s hair. It's difficult now because he’s just a little bit taller than Jackal.

"Captain, huh? The greatest captain Rikkai’s ever had, I hear."

Kirihara grimaces and awkwardly pats Jackal’s shoulders. "What are you doing these days, sempai?" He asks. It’s strange to hear Kirihara call him "sempai" after so long, especially when he looks so grown up. He should be about eighteen now and has the world lying out before him.

Yanagi’s mentioned before that Kirihara’s been scouted since junior high but has too much pride in his school to ever pursue it. In a couple of years, he might be too old to groom into a tennis professional so he’s being pressured harder than ever.

"Todai. And working." Jackal says. “Nothing new. I’m sorry, Akaya…I lost touch.”

Kirihara blinks and then grins, pointy little teeth showing at the corners of his mouth. For a second, Jackal can see the annoying little brat who complained about homework and fought for the last piece of sushi. "Who cares? You’re here now. I’m supposed to meet Yanagi-sempai tonight. You should come. I’m going to call him now and tell him."

Jackal tries to get out of it. "A date? No, I don’t want to get in the way."

"Fuck, no." Kirihara bellows something about laps to his team and watches as they take off. He sounds so much like Sanada, it’s almost creepy. "We’re just going to pop in and say hi to Yukimura-sempai. Hell, it’s gonna be a real reunion now." He digs out a cell phone from one of his pockets and his fingers fly over the keypad. "I’m telling everyone."

"They’re all here?"

"Yeah, well, here and there. Yanagi-sempai at Rikkai U and Yukimura-sempai, when he can. His health’s not the best but he studies mostly through correspondence and we keep him company once in a while. It's close to home. He’s still really intense, though."

Kirihara purses his lips in recollection. "Niou-sempai's works somewhere, in construction or something and studying part time. He can still be a mean prick sometimes. Yagyuu-sempai’s studying in the Kyoto area. Oh hey, Marui-sempai’s in Todai. Are you telling me you’ve never run into him?"

Jackal ducks his head. "I haven’t…actually told anyone that I’ve been back in town for a while. You’re the first."

A pissed look actually passes over Kirihara’s face but he schools it remarkably. "I think he'll be happy to see you; actually, I think he’s been away on a study trip for a while in the mountains or whatever crazy shit. Yukimura-sempai will be happy to see you, for sure." Kirihara looks out at the crowd of tennis players jogging around the track. "Hey, if you wanna wait for me, I’m going to duck out early. Let me grab my stuff and meet you here in ten."

"Can you just leave practice like that?" Jackal asks skeptically.

"Captain’s privilege." Kirihara says loftily, flashing him a smile that has the shadow of Niou written in it.

Yukimura’s not at the hospital to Jackal’s relief but he tenses up a little when they pull up in front of Yukimura’s house. He always feels like he should dress a little more formally when they come here but he relaxes when Kirihara just lets himself in like he owns the place.

Yukimura is painting on a table in the backyard, which is a riot of flowers. He looks up and doesn’t look surprised at all, unless he’s hiding it really well. His hair is no longer curling around his cheeks but short and wavy and neat. He’s always had the air of an adult but now it’s in his body language and in his face. He’s grown up-- they all have—- and Jackal suddenly hopes there is room enough for him because it's obvious they'd managed to keep intact in a way.

"Jackal!" Yukimura sounds delighted. Nothing in voice sounds like hesitation or disappointment. He is as sincere as ever. Even when he was being a scary bastard, Yukimura has always sincere. He gets up a little shakily and puts down his brush, wiping his hands on the hem of his t-shirt. He seems to have little disregard for the paint stains on his jeans, the hems of which flop over his bare feet.

Yukimura forgoes Japanese etiquette and dives towards Jackal, wrapping his arms around Jackal’s waist and squeezing. Jackal is slightly freaked out at first; he freezes for a good ten seconds before wrapping his arms around Yukimura’s shoulders and hanging on for dear life.

For the first time in months, Jackal feels at home.

 

+++

 

Jackal’s days seem much brighter after that first visit and people notice. Starbucks regulars say things like, "Jackal-kun, you seem more cheerful these days," when they used to not.

He has things to look forward to now: sporadic visits to Yukimura’s and tennis games where Kirihara demolishes him with thinly disguised glee. Sanada and Yagyuu call on occasion and talk to him on the phone. Yanagi and Niou see him on separate occasions; the former to help him figure out college statistics, the latter to go out drinking until 3 AM and do stupid things.

They never quite manage to reach out to Marui for some reason and it takes a while for Jackal to realize that they’re purposefully skirting around mentioning him at all, like they want him to see things for himself. What those are, Jackal can’t be sure but he's always been the patient sort.

He’s actually thinking about it during one of his shifts. “Welcome to Starbucks, what can I get you?” Jackal says absently, talking more to the counter than the customer.

“Hey, stranger,” Marui’s smirks at him. His hair’s darker and shorter but his jaw is still working hard at chewing gum. He gives off the faint scent of green apple gum and cold air.

Jackal is so surprised he laughs and they break into conversation over the till.

"No! No, forget it, it’s on me." Marui raises his eyebrow and tries to peek over the glass display, craning his neck to watch Jackal reaching for the whipped cream can.

"In that case, I need extra of everything."

"You got it.” They smile at one another and hold up the line. The shift manager rolls his eyes and tells Jackal to take his break and Jackal gladly does, waving Marui over. They find a table off to one side and fill each other in. Marui feigns disappointment, sticking his bottom lip out and grilling Jackal for details. Jackal just laughs and laughs; it spills out of his chest like water from a pitcher, leaving him to enjoy the light, empty sensation.

Marui licks at the crown of whipped cream off the top of his caramel frappuccino. His green-tinted pink tongue darting out is such a familiar sight that Jackal feels like he’s fifteen again and has no inkling of what it would be like to grow up and apart.

"What time do you get off?" Marui asks, after slurping the dregs of his drink.

"In a couple hours, you don’t have to stay and wait," Jackal stands, reaching behind his back to redo the knot of his green apron.

"I’ll wait," Marui says, his eyes changing. The tone of his voice is one that refuses to argue and there is a lot left unsaid between them.

Thanks to the after dinner/weekend rush, the last two hours fly by. Jackal logs out as fast as he can and says goodbye to his boss. The air is cooler and he yanks his hood up over his head. Marui was sitting at the same table where he’d left him, working his way through a packet of gum and a pack of cigarettes.

"I didn’t know you smoked." Jackal rests his hands on the back of Marui's chair.

"It’s an oral fixation. Like the gum." Marui tilts his head so he's looking up and upside down at Jackal.

"I thought you just liked sugar," Jackal jokes, taking the chair next to Marui.

"I do. But I can live without it. It helped with being active and everything but…" Marui stands, reaching over to touch Jackal’s hand. "In the long run, it wasn’t what I needed." His back is to the light, making his eyes unreadable but his hand is warm and as calloused as Jackal remembers.

They grab dinner at a Yoshinoya and order big bowls of beef on rice and plenty of pickled ginger, pink like Marui’s hair used to be. “Do you still play?”

"Tennis? Sometimes," Marui chews the end of his chopsticks. "Not often. Not really. It didn’t feel right after you left." Jackal pauses at this, his food frozen halfway to his mouth.

"Bunta…"

"Forget it. Guess what I’m studying? Psychiatry," Marui laughs. "I study crazy people."

Jackal whistles. "That’s not a cheap major."

“I’m on a scholarship. I busted my ass to get it too…you should’ve seen everyone’s faces when they realized I wasn’t kidding about being a genius but you know,” Marui’s face looks it’s struggling a little. “You know…”

“Bunta, I…” Jackal reaches over to try and put his hand in Marui’s hair. He gets that somewhere between the time he left and the time he came back, things got hard. Life isn't easy. Jackal wants to pull Marui into a hug but they’re getting some really dirty looks from an elderly couple in the next booth.

"Not here. I’ll tell you everything but not here," Bunta says this very seriously, tilting away from Jackal’s reach.

Jackal’s apartment is closer and they make it there with a bit of a run. It’s drizzling a little but they’re mostly dry when they finally make it there. Without any awkwardness at all, without any explanation, Marui hugs him around his waist, burying his face in Jackal’s chest.

"You’re warm." He says, reluctantly letting go after a while. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while.”

“You mean, hug me?” Jackal says. He’s confused but can't say for sure if he's surprised. Some of his friends are remarkably tactile but Marui has never been one of them. He normally kept his hands to himself. Given his personality, it wouldn’t seem entirely out of character but when you played doubles together, lived and breathed tennis together, there are days that you think of nothing save your other half and these are the things you notice.

There are the things you don’t realize you miss.

"Everything," Marui looks up at him in the shitty light of his tiny apartment. "My timing is shit, Jackal and I’ve spent the last few years thinking about it, so much that it’s made me blunt. So, I’m sorry if you have no time to adjust to what I’m going to say because I'm just going to come right out and say it" I missed you and you’re a motherfucking _asshole_ for going away."

The insult is like a spark of clarity behind Jackal's eyes and he collapses into laughter. Before his eyes close he sees an incredulous look on Marui’s face and Jackal crumples onto the tatami mat on the floor, holding his stomach and giggling away. Marui melts down next to him and pushes his face into his neck. "Don’t laugh, god...you’re an idiot," but he’s smiling.

"You owe me about two years worth of apple-flavored gum." Marui informs him. Jackal laughs and tugs Marui closer to him, like he wanted to earlier over dinner.

"You have no idea." It’s all clicking into place now, what led him back here. Jackal wonders what would’ve happened if he hadn’t gone away, if he insisted on staying instead of taking orders like he’d been trained. If he had rebelled or disobeyed.

 _But I know all that now,_ Jackal says to himself, while they’re both tangled there and Bunta starts up a stream of quiet conversation, telling him everything he’s missed. _And now that I know, I know I can fight back._

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted here: http://midnight-city.livejournal.com/70791.html


End file.
